How to Start Your Own Salsa Business - Chapter 3

Now that we have our commercial facility lined up, and we have completed our required education, what's next? Well, there are a couple FDA requirements we should take care of.

The first requirement is to register our newly obtained commercial facility or FCE with the FDA. The are lots of acronyms when dealing with the FDA, like FCE, which stands for Food Canning Facility. The FDA keeps track of FCE's, does random inspections which include examining your record keeping, which we will discuss later.

To register your FCE, start by reading the following information provided by the FDA. This can be somewhat time consuming, so I recommend doing it when you have a couple hours to devote to it.

Ok, now we should have both our FCE number, as well as our FFR or Food Facility Registration number. The FFR keeps track of you as a salsa manufacturer, and the FCE keeps track of your various locations where you manufacture salsa.

Now its time to meet MDA, Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Be sure to check the laws in your own state, but in Minnesota, the MDA regulates acidified foods, or salsa manufacturing.